The delegation of the International Monetary Fund currently in Lebanon would have set 3 preconditions to grant aid as the land of cedars is going through a serious economic crisis considered to be one of the worst crises since the mid-19th century.
The IMF would therefore like the political and monetary authorities to implement three preconditions for any resumption of the negotiations interrupted since last year.
It would first be a matter of unifying exchange rates, the fund considering that the multiplication of exchange rates is similar to corruption, certain interests thus benefiting from large margins achieved to the detriment of the population.
In addition, the IMF would also like public spending, particularly in the public electricity sector, to be rationalized. It would now be a question of selling at least cost price the current supplied to the population and thus to stop the losses of the EDL. This condition would echo the one presented by the World Bank which would require similar measures to finance the program to import gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan.
Last condition, the IMF would like the adoption of the 2022 budget before the end of this year. This budget should include the essential elements of economic and fiscal policy reforms in order to reduce the public deficit. The IMF would even like it to be fully satisfied in 2023. To do so, the government would have to modify upwards the tariff of the customs dollar and improve the collection of taxes.